Warsinger James Baldwin (read this if TXT) 📖

to see if I can improve your Raven Suit before you leave. I might be able to make it better. Karalti’s armor, too.”

‘Super useful’ sounded good. “What did you make?”

“You’ll see!” Rin wagged her head from side to side. “It’s a surprise.”

“Thanks for making all this stuff. I really needed new armor.” Karalti sniffed curiously as we passed by displays of Artifacts behind glass. The inside of the college had the rough interior of a country garage, and smelt strongly of linseed oil, turpentine, and grease. “The Naziri Set is pretty old, and it’s not good for martial arts.”

“Haha, funny you mention that.” Rin giggled. “I might have been working on something for you?”

“If it’s as good as Suri’s set, I can’t wait to see it,” I said.

“In black?” Karalti perked up. “I’ve got a color theme going.”

“Some of it! You’ll see.”

Rin led us to her workshop. In contrast to her disheveled appearance, the Mercurion’s two-room workshop was orderly to the point of obsessiveness. Everything was neatly in its place, the tools on the counters arranged by color and function. The only messy thing in the quarters was her small loft bed, which was as unmade and rumpled as she was. Her turrets scuttled over to us like a pair of metal dogs. They even had wagging tails, kind of: antennas that whipped back and forth. I noticed that the crossbows they’d used to carry had been replaced by what looked like the unholy and completely unrealistic marriage of a revolver and a tommy gun.

“Hi Hopper! Hi Lovelace!” Rin beamed at the pair of insectoid machines as they marched around into position on either side of her. “Find a seat while I grab everything out of the counters, okay? Sorry, I don’t have anything to drink, or, ummm…”

“Don’t sweat it,” I replied. “We’ve got plenty.”

Karalti bent down to sniff over a rack of different-colored vials, while I bobbed down somewhere out of the way and watched Rin scurry from place to place and Inventory to Inventory, collecting the gear she’d been working on. She came back with her arms full of rope.

“Okay, so…” she dumped the coils onto the ground. “These are the different grades you asked for. Here’s the steel cable, harnesses, carabiners…”

One by one, Rin unloaded and arranged all of the gear she’d made. Climbing hooks, pitons, pulleys, carabiners, and harnesses. When she had half the inventory of REI set out on the ground, she pulled out a small box and handed it to me. I took it with a smile and opened it to reveal an odd-looking, mana-powered device shaped like a human heart. Arteries pumped greenish-blue mana around the core: a chunk of ruby mana the size of a baby’s fist.

“This looks… assassiny?” I looked up at her. “What does it do?”

“That is your new Heart of Memory!” Rin chirped. “I know that you get awful amnesia when you die. That device will let you store your most essential memories onto it for quick retrieval. Ebisa donated that big piece of ruby mana before she left.”

“Oh, shiiit.” Suddenly, I saw the device in a whole new light. “That’s amazing! And really fucking useful, because the last time I died, I forgot my own name.”

“Thanks! I’m glad you like it. Just be aware that it doesn’t have much storage… only fifty terabytes or so. That’s enough for SOME memories, but not a huge amount. I might be able to expand it as I get better at crafting that kind of stuff.”

“Even fifty TB will make a huge difference.”

“Yay!” Rin danced over to a sheet-covered mannequin. She gestured, and then dramatically whipped the sheet from the armor underneath. “And this is for Karalti!”

The top half of the outfit was a flexible, metal-reinforced vest with asymmetric pauldrons, the right side being heavier than the left. A dyed sash, starting purple and fading to black, crossed over the vest and tucked through a broad rope belt, falling just over the knees. The pants were loose enough to move in, braced up along the sides by well-fitted metal plates. The helmet that went with the set reminded me strongly of a Japanese-style fox mask. Rin had honored the tradition of Baru wearing leather mountaineering boots, with lots of grip and zero heel. Karalti’s new boots had gaiters that came up to mid-calf, worn under greaves. The greaves weren’t just protective: they had a nasty, sharp beveled edge scalloped along the center line, perfect for breaking unprotected arms.

“I didn’t make any gauntlets, because I know Baru use special weapons,” she said. “I, um, actually started making this while you guys were in Dakhdir because I remember how excited Karalti was to start training… What do you think?”

Karalti went to her, pulled her into a hug, and kissed her several times on the cheek. “It’s gorgeous! I love it!”

Rin’s legs wobbled a little as Karalti pulled back and unselfconsciously unequipped everything she was wearing so she could put the new [Fox Striker Armor] set on. The Mercurion went the color of blue curacao and screwed her eyes shut. “I-I’m glad you like it! I-It was a lot of fun to make, um, Hector! Give me your armor! Please?”

Laughing, I did the same thing, but kept my underwear on and traded my Raven Suit leggings for some plain pants. Rin took the gear over to her workbench and laid it out there, humming to herself.

“How do I look?” Karalti set the fox mask visor on top of her head and struck a pose.

“Like a million bucks,” I said. “I’d chase that through the castle grounds any day.”

Karalti bared her teeth at me. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I have three-digit Dex now.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’re really good at limbo?”

Karalti gave me a cool, aloof look, and pulled her leg up until her ankle was pressed against her ear. “Yep.”

“Well, there’s my old contortionist fetish, come back to haunt me.” I sighed, and mimed unzipping my pants.

“Speaking of that.” Her eyes